Will nano-technology save the world or spell the end of civilisation? Professor John Weckert of Charles Sturt University’s Centre for Applied Philosophy and Public Ethics says as well as those two groups of people with diametrically opposed view of this new technology, there is also a third viewpoint:  “These voices are trying to get the arguments into perspective so that the technology can be used in ways that are most beneficial.” Professor Weckert is the editor-in-chief of a new journal, NanoEthics. “It was thought that now is a good time to set up an academic journal that can be a forum for serious discussion of these issues,” said Professor Weckert. He says the journal is aimed at academics, philosophers, ethicists, policy makers and “people involved in regulation, many of whom are lawyers. It is very much a cross-disciplinary journal.”

A Charles Sturt University PhD student, Debra Dunstan, has received a prestigious Churchill Fellowship which will allow her to travel to Canada and the United Kingdom. Her PhD examined intervention for pain related to work disability. Using WorkCover NSW guidelines, she developed a rural program to successfully move worker’s compensation recipients back to work. “Typically people are only treated in major metropolitan areas. This model turned out to be very effective. We had significant outcomes.” The Churchill Fellowship will allow her to travel to Canada to examine similar models, as well as the United Kingdom where the idea has been expanded to successfully move social security beneficiaries into work. “I hope to be able to work with governments to develop a community based treatment for people who are on disability support pensions, and that fits in with the Australian government’s Welfare to Work program.” Debra says of the Fellowship, “I was overwhelmed really, it is an honour and a privilege and a very exciting opportunity.”

“I feel very confident in promoting the University as a great place to work.” Karen Kime is Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) new Indigenous Employment Coordinator. Although she only started in the position in June, already she has held cross cultural training workshops and Indigenous staff forums. “The workshops were about the different communication styles that many of our people have. Things such as eye contact, and women and men’s 'business', are sensitive issues. Silences are often used to show respect. Body language is very different. The forums meanwhile are a fantastic way for our people to be able to get together, to network, learn University processes, and to get some training which is specifically targeted for their needs.” Next up will be the introduction of pathways between TAFE, schools and CSU and the development of a mentoring scheme “to encourage people to see CSU as a potential and relevant employer - where one could have a career. In addition, our people contribute to an interesting and dynamic workforce; one that reflects the cultural makeup of the region it serves.”

The stories of two Labor icons are currently playing on Sydney stages: Keating! The Musical at Belvior Street, and A Local Man, the Ben Chifley one-man show at the Ensemble in Kirribilli. Co-written by historian and CSU adjunct senior lecturer Dr Rob McLachlan with Bob Ellis, A Local Man is described by the Ensemble as “a poignant portrayal of a flawed hero”. Tony Barry is reprising the role he played in the original Bathurst CSU production in 2004, which was directed by Bill Blaikie. Dr McLachlan says this new production is a “bonus all around. The Ensemble is one of the hallmark theatres in Sydney for Australian drama. It has a very sympathetic artistic director, Sandra Bates, and there is an impressive CSU ex-theatre media presence there”. A 2007 tour of Canberra and regional NSW and Victoria will be produced by Jennifer Barry, a CSU theatre media graduate.

Policies aimed at increasing the pace of developing renewable energies could accelerate global warming, according to Dr Rod Duncan, a lecturer in economics at Charles Sturt University. It wouldn’t be the first time regulations have had the opposite of the desired effect. When US Congress introduced the Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, Detroit car makers responded by producing petrol-guzzling SUVs. And when Mexico City implemented no-drive days where a car could only be used every other day, the citizens reacted by buying a second car. “Air quality in Mexico City got worse, because the second car tended to be an old bomb,” said Dr Duncan. And what does all this have to do with alternative energies? “If cheaper alternatives are being developed, oil producers will have an incentive to pump oil faster and sell it cheaper. The renewables could be worth it in the long run, but at least temporarily, you may actually make the global warming problem worse.”

Carbon emissions trading is a great idea waiting to happen, according to Charles Sturt University’s environment economist Mark Morrison. Dr Morrison says he agrees with Prime Minister John Howard, who said at the APEC summit late last week that any carbon trading system would have to be global to suceed. “The global effort is going to be ineffective unless everyone is going to involved,” said Dr Morrison. “Very few countries are meeting their commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. Australia is going to be one of the most severely affected countries. The ability of agricultural land in Australia to produce the way it has historically is very unlikely, if you believe the global warming forecasts and I do.”

“Young people need no magic shields, swords and arrows to cope with the world of work,” according to Associate Professor Erica Smith, a specialist in vocation education and training from Charles Sturt University (CSU). Professor Smith says it is dangerous and futile to constantly make changes to the school curriculum in attempts to prepare young people better for the workplace. Her paper, The Land of Narnia or just the back of the wardrobe? What research tells us about the real world of work for young people will challenge many assumptions made about the nature of entry into work life for young people. Drawing from her national research, Professor Smith says the majority of young people have a realistic view of the labour market, hold sufficient skills to succeed and are able to move to full-time work seamlessly over a period of several years with no major difficulties. “The world of work, rather than being a strange land, difficult to enter, where battles are fought and special guides are needed, is a familiar and navigable place to young people,” she said. 

The Politics of Water - What Are the Real Issues? is the topic of a Politics in the Pub discussion by Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Shahbaz Khan in Sydney on Friday 10 November. Internationally regarded for his work in hydrology and water management, Professor Khan joined the University in the middle of 2004 when CSIRO Land and Water and CSU jointly funded the position of Professor of Hydrology to head up work in the critical research areas of land and water management. Having worked on nearly every continent of the world, particularly in developing nations, Professor Khan is the Regional Coordinator for UNESCO’s International Hydrology Program, HELP (Hydrology Environment, Life and Policy), based at CSU. Politics in the Pub started in the Harold Park Hotel in inner-city Glebe in 1988 and forums are held at 6pm each Friday in the Gaelic Club, Devonshire Street, Surrey Hills.

This year’s National Drama Australia Conference had more drama than usual for Associate Professor Dr John Carroll, who was named the recipient of the 2006 Drama Australia Award for Excellence in Drama Education. The Charles Sturt University (CSU) Associate Professor in Communication Research also launched a new book at the Turning The Tides conference which addressed such issues as online drama, digital performance and drama learning. Professor Carroll says Real Players? coauthored with David Cameron of CSU and Michael Anderson of the University of Sydney is “aimed at drama educators, secondary teachers and the university community, as well as a broader group of people who are interested in what’s happening in new technology and performance. It covers the shift that is going on in how young people are relating to new media, and how they are creatively using alternative channels of information.”